NOVEMBER 2026

the plant

1  THE PLANT

VOL 64 NO 3 | 2026 SPEAKING-EASY SINCE 1969

NOVEMBER @THEPLANTDAWSON   THEPLANTNEWS.COM

2  THE PLANT

Letter from the editors Dear reader, I’ve always quite loved November. I am fond of the sunrises that greet me, most every morning, on my way to school. November is, to me, a month of self-reflection – and melancholy, in a way, too. Because, so many of the lovely things that greet me day-to-day will be lost so soon. Especially with finals a-brew, I know I must relish such gifts that’ll leave me, before I know it. Soon, my dog will need her pink winter jacket, my house will find itself cold, and the trees, bare, will need a sweater. The Saint Lawrence will freeze over. And, my lattes will switch from iced to hot. But with such metamorphosis, comes our ability to remember all of the old things that have brought us such joys! And this shift may be quite dramatic, if you’ll let it. Orion and I did just that with our playlist: an amalgamation of our forgotten favourites. Because, it’s November; let yourself love the many things of your past. Let yourself love, again! Cosy up with yourself, forgive. Spend time with loved ones. Re-learn an old hobby. Immerse yourself in tactile things. Be in nature. Live! With a year nearly at rest, comes time to remember everything that went right. Everything learned. Cling to that. Be proud of yourself. Kind to yourself. Think of all the lessons you may bring into the new year. Remember what brought you love. Yours, Chloe

Dearest Gentle Reader, November is an inbetween month. A temporal liminal space best described by what it is not. I think of it like the climb up to the attic. Carrying up the vestiges of a Halloween just past, precariously stepping on an untrustworthy ladder. Every step up groans and creaks under the strain of the end of a holiday.

Index NEWS 3 ARTS & CULTURE 4 VOICES 15 SCI & ENVIRONMENT 23 CREATIVE WRITING 24 SPORTS 26 25CURIOSITIES 29

Once up there all you can remember is why you’re never up there in the first place. It’s covered in dust and the only sound is the faint scritches of mice hidden within the bric-a-brac. Dropping the overflowing box of costumes as gingerly as possible. You now have to stand there and consider whether it is too early to bring down the next batch of decorations. One exists in November purely to wait around for it to be done: for the semester to come to a close, for the next thing to be excited about. One must find small things to bring a little light back as the days get shorter and darker. Perhaps set up a new piece of decoration out every day or week. Light a special scent when you’re getting ready. Learn and practice some recipes in preparation for the holiday season. Get in early on your gift shopping. Find enjoyment in the inbetween, it is a moment of rest before the storm of the end. In this dust-covered month try to remember the good things coming up ahead, get cozy and enjoy this penultimate issue of the semester. With Love, Orion Peyrol

The Plant is an editorially autonomous student paper. All opinions expressed in The Plant do not necessarily belong to The Plant, but are those of individuals. All content submitted to The Plant or its staff belongs to the paper. We reserve the right to reject or edit all submissions for brevity, taste and legality. The Plant welcomes typed and signed letters to the editor under 400 words. Copyright 2026

NEWS     3

Education in Gaza: Learning Amidst Genocide ATIKA UME FAZAL NEWS EDITOR

In the temporary learning spaces, these attacks on teaching staff translates to overcrowded classrooms and a barely manageable teacher-to-student ratio today. According to WeWorld, more than 500,000 students seeking education must be taught by about 11,000 teachers — which would represent a ratio of about 45 students for every one teacher. VIA GETTY IMAGES

VIA AFP

Preface: Israel’s murder of countless government officials, journalists, academics, and international humanitarian workers has significantly reduced the amount and the frequency of statistics and studies coming out of Gaza. This article tried to stick to the most certifiable data, which often dates back to 2025 UN studies. Considering the genocide on Palestinians has not stopped since, it is far probable that these numbers show a conservative estimate of the consequences inflicted by Israel on this territory. For students around the world, the months of September and October mean an abrupt and taken-for-granted return to classrooms. In North Gaza, every classroom has been reduced to rubble by Israel. Across the Gaza Strip, 91.8% of all school buildings need to be either fully rebuilt or undergo major renovations to be functional according to an OCHA 2025 study. The few remaining school buildings are mostly being used as shelters for the displaced Palestinian families. Nevertheless, after three years of ongoing genocide, provisional solutions have been found. One of these solutions is Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS). Often situated in tents, TLSs have allowed almost 500 000 students aged from 4 to 17 to obtain some form of education. This is only 59.2% of the affected population, with the rest still being outside of learning abilities, as reported by WeWorld.

Conditions in temporary learning spaces remain inadequate. Palestinian eighth grader Yamen Abu Samra relays the condition to Reuters: “There are no fans, no light bulbs, no electricity, no generators, no power panels. Now, I am sitting in a tent that has absolutely nothing, nothing but the sun and heat. [...] And the area isn’t tiled, it is just sand. I am sitting on sand.” The fourteen year-old also adds the general feeling of anxiety that plagues the Strip:

“When we come to school, we’re afraid of stray bullets, rockets, strikes, everything.” Considering the death count of over 75 000 civilians, this fear is in no way unfounded. OHCHR claims that over 20 000 children have been murdered in Gaza from October 2023 to October 2025 in a “widespread and systematic” targeting of youth by the occupation. Those numbers represented 30% of the killed population up until then, and the genocide continues on today. Students and children are not the only ones affected: Israel had murdered over 780 teachers as of October 1, 2025. However, the number of injuries for that time period, according to OCHA, was much higher. In fact, they report that more than 3,000 teachers were severely injured.

The New Arab recounts the experience of Deena Allouh, an English teacher in Gaza. After leaving her partlydestroyed home, she must walk an hour to go teach 250 students. In the classroom, she must face traumatized children, all of whom have experienced personal and educational loss. Deena also talks about how the trauma

“Many students have grown up during the war and are not familiar with the educational process and do not understand what school, a teacher or a lesson means,” she explains.

of years of genocide have affected her students: “Most of my students lost some of their siblings, parents, relatives or classmates. I recognize the effects of their trauma in their social withdrawal, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and changes in behaviour and academic performance.” Teachers in Gaza also face these losses, and must juggle their own traumas along with those of their students. Gordon Brown, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, tells a General Assembly on September 24,2026 that “education is so important for the future of the Palestinian people”. Yet, Israel continues to destroy the very foundation of it: buildings, students, teachers, hopes.

“Despite all of this we will learn, we will learn even in a tent,” a student in Khan Younis states.

4  THE PLANT

The Stories That Grow With Us SIBORA DIBRA ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR

“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

And yet, who is to say we must, one day, relinquish a freer version of ourselves for another–one that is mature, responsible and ostensibly shallow? Does growing up necessarily mean growing out of what first taught us how to see and experience the world? The stories we grow up with– film, books, and the overall fictional world we’ve inhabited since we were children–do not collect dust in the scheme of our lives. They follow us into adulthood, cultivating new meanings as we cultivate new experiences. They educate and reveal things we were, once, too young to notice. These stories grow alongside us, speaking equally to the child we were and the adult we have become. My ten-year-old sister’s favourite film is Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle; my twenty-year-old brother happens to appreciate it just as much. Two people separated by an entire decade of exposure to the world can equally find, in a movie primarily targeted towards children, something worth relating to. While my sister may be drawn to its whimsical, beautifully

illustrated landscapes, my brother may feel more intrigued by its exploration of war and identity. Of course, I cannot speak for them and claim I know for a fact what either of them grasps from the film–still, it becomes clear that some tales have the power to accommodate and move people of any age, of any experience. Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, in the top 20 of Letterboxd users’ best ranked movies, is another one that seems to remain just as relevant to children and adults alike–proof that it is possible to revisit the same story at ten, twenty, or fifty and find it just as meaningful, even if what we love about it has changed along the way. We grow alongside this media, becoming increasingly capable of identifying ourselves within it in countless ways. A book that once made us laugh may later make us feel a crippling nostalgia; the character we once hated may someday become one we understand. We learn to appreciate their newfound depth while still basking in the aspects of it which captivated us as children. In my eyes, Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince was right all along. We may return to the same narratives with different, older eyes–convinced to have outgrown them–only to discover that the magic was present not in what we understood, but in what we had yet to understand. Growing up is not about learning to see the hat instead of the boa, but about learning to see both. VIA HS INSIDER

Once upon a time, a child drew a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant whole. A grown-up, peering over their shoulder to look at the very same drawing, saw a hat. Somewhere along the way, we trade imagination for the ordinary, the fantastical for the sensible. Our juvenile hunger for the surreal dissipates as time inevitably unfolds, leaving behind the elusive ghost of a childhood we’ve outgrown. When I first read Antoine de SaintExupéry’s The Little Prince, I was quickly captivated by the prince’s travels, particularly by his encounter with the Fox, who taught six-year-old me that the essential is invisible to the eye. Upon revisiting the novel as an emerging adult, however, I found myself paying less attention to the prince and more to each newly discovered planet’s residents: the king, the vain, the drunk, the businessman, the lamplighter and the geographer. Each represents, respectively, ego, vanity, alienation, greed, responsibility, and knowledge. To grow up is a peculiar thing; the world remains constant, but we learn to assess it differently. The objects of our attention gradually shift as we gather experience, knowledge and unique quirks which shape our personalities. With time, I began to find myself relating to the more complex themes within these stories, ones that extended beyond the issues of friendship and love that I so deeply related to as a child. My developing ability to discern underlying meanings and think critically led me to seek out profounder interpretations, to look beyond the initial surface of a story and into the more somber ideas that lay beneath it.

“Perhaps, then, the difference between children and grown-ups lies in the simple distinction between whether an ambiguous shape depicts a hat, or a snake digesting an elephant.”

ARTS & CULTURE     5

Fitted Clothes, or Fitting-In? VALENTINA LIPMANN DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Girlies, what jackets are we wearing this winter? Those shoes are so last season! This is the skirt of the summer! Red is in right now… When will it stop? Fashion is, has been, and will forever be a never ending cycle of trends, shortening by the decade, and with social media turning all fashion fast, even quality and style become momentary fads. It is not new for fashion to resemble a social uniform–think of big frilly Victorian dresses, or Y2K layers. Merriam-Webster defines the term fashion as “the prevailing style during a particular time” and “the business of creating and selling clothes in new styles.” Magazines, such as Vogue, ELLE and Marie Claire, have been reporting on said fashion tendencies for well over a century, feeding into our homogenous ways. That being said,

“It takes one singular person to stand out and tweak the uniform to launch a new trend” Subsequently, new fashions become overused and ordinary, stripping any originality from the style. For instance, Rachel Green from the popular sitcom Friends had an iconic layered bob during the earlier seasons that fans went crazy over. Hairdressers knew immediately what their clients meant when requesting ‘The Rachel’. Today, this hairstyle is considered fairly standard, and so, the cycle carries on. Social media is not to blame for these fashion habits dating back many years, though it has certainly escalated the situation. From following ridiculously named aesthetics such as Tomato Girl Summer, to speed-running through ‘micro-trends’, fashion is taking a fast turn–literally. Trends go from lasting years to lasting weeks because of information overload.

Public figures have the largest influence on trends. Their quick and easy presence on social media, paired with society's addiction to these platforms, created the exposure that caused this phenomenon. Tiktok and Instagram’s algorithms are carefully crafted to keep viewers hooked, resulting in an overwhelming amount of micro-trends floating around at once, most of which are initiated by the need to adhere to celebrity styles. With social media making it so simple to keep tabs with these personas, it becomes effortless to imitate them and turn their every move into a trend. Though many do seem to be going against the grain, it is clear that today's fashion is heavily shaped by such occurrences.

“Society has taken to heart the concept of the uniform, always wanting to wear or resemble someone else’s look.” The “Kylie Jenner Partless SlickBack” is a clear demonstration of the instinct of keeping up with everything celebrities do and wear for our own copycat usage. Now, the focus is infinitely more global, with any given person having somewhat of a connection to fashion items from an array of different countries, consequently making the uniform global as well. A great number of social media posts that don't necessarily touch upon the subject of fashion receive comments, requesting shopping details from content creators on specific items displayed in their videos or photos. Comments such as “where are these jeans from?!” and “where can i find ittt” may be a way for many to acquire a sense of community or hard to find desirables, but it happens to reflect on society’s need to adopt someone else’s style.

VIA VINTAGE DANCER

High fashion and designer clothing was created for the upper-class population, meant to show the wearer’s status through quality and look. The concept of ‘dupes’ has turned all fashion accessible. Creating cheaper, more affordable versions of absolutely everything significantly drops an item's value, decreases the quality, increases homogeneity, and promotes fast fashion. In fact, many brands operate under the same parent company, showing us the same item of clothing only slightly altered in a number of ‘different’ stores. This contributes to our uniformization. While men can be heavily affected by fashion trends as well, women tend to be the primary target, especially within social media’s ‘micro-trend’ and ‘dupe’ consumption rate. Notably, during seasonal or holiday transitions, content requesting advice on what different items “we” are wearing circulates among women, normalizing the desire to fit-in rather than fit our clothes to our own standards.

6  THE PLANT

Mossbed: A Dictionary of Moss SAMANTHA LEVINE ARTS AND CULTURE CORRESPONDENT

bryology [bry·​ol·​o·​gy] The study of moss and other bryophytes. Does such a thing exist as a substance that can adapt to any environment, despite how harsh it may prove to be, taking on the shape of any surface, thing, or being it desires, no matter the innately complex intricacy of the shape? I used to think it didn’t. Now, I think it does. Through an extensive study of moss, paysage studios’s most recent exhibit asks: what would it mean to think, move, breathe like moss? What would it be to inherit its properties–in essence, to become it? assi Moss or earth or powdered decomposed wood; groundcover or soil; piece of land or territory; planet Earth. ashtatshipekuaskuan A piece of wood covered with moss after having sat in water. the Innu-aimun dictionary This year, paysage studios invites viewers to experience and delight in the multifaceted world of moss through Mossbed, an immersive sound installation found at Place des Spectacles. The exhibit is being held from October 20th to February 21st of next year, as part of the PHI x Place des Arts series that seeks to submerge its audience in the sensorial world of sound and light. Mossbed invites the viewer into a space of minimal noise, free of distraction. Before them, the observer finds an array of cushions and beanbags, designed to their utmost comfort. Here, time finds itself slowing down. It is a space of contemplation, of observation. It is here that the metamorphosis begins.

"I think of time as circular and continuity as a constantly changing state."

森林浴, 森林 - shinrin-yoku The therapeutic relaxation process of immersing oneself in a forest or natural atmosphere with the aim of engaging with nature, tree-bathing. 花鳥諷詠 The beauties of nature and the harmony that exists between it and man [in the context of the key poetic theme of a haiku]. From this display, the viewer is presented with clips of moss in its natural state, expanding out across the forest’s ground. The viewer is being given the chance to observe the ways in which moss learns to inhibit, adapt to, and transform its environment. The exhibit features an original composition by Sébastien Sauvageau. The instrumentation presents a variety of woodwind instruments, introducing an earthy, light feel into the space, like that of sunlight filtering in through the thicket of a dense forest. 木漏れ日 - komorebi The pattern of scattered light that falls onto the forest floor when sunlight shines through its trees. Through the exhibit room floats the sounds of flutes, oboes, clarinet, and bassoon, followed by the oscillations of a synthesizer, drum machines, percussion instruments, and various estranged sounds. As the bassoon takes centre stage, leading the composition, it is as if the melody were reaching out from beyond a thick veil to envelop its listeners in a warm state of serenity. As these beautiful instruments come together, the harmony of moss finds itself taking form.

These are important assumptions in my concept of musical form. Sometimes my music follows the design of a particular existing garden. At times it may follow the design of an imaginary garden I have sketched. Time in my music may be said to be the duration of my walk through these gardens." Toru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (1930-1996) [...] What could their music be? They who, except for the discreet pop of their capsules as they open, releasing their spores, emit no sound. One would mostly imagine them absorbing sound, cushioning the footstep-makushkamitshishkam": s/he crushes the moss with their weight or their feet. [...] Mossbed Through a mosaic of sound and scenography, viewers are invited to consider the complexity of moss; how its slow, cautious nature allows it to shape its environment into one of sanctity, without ever seeking to dominate it. In this way, Mossbed presents moss and its unique qualities as more than a plant, but as a metaphor. A way of being.

ARTS & CULTURE     7

A notch a stump a fault in the mineral the ligneous the open spelling greens a fault rather a nest the opportune after the wind has also seized like a good rain shower the drop and its momentum, it arrives at this beginning this sprout this infinite point where stems ramify where spores proliferate in multiples where the tiller the cloth the tangled silence of rough circumferences become nursing alcoves forests for springtails the invisibles an ultra-green from the depths of tim Mossbed

8  THE PLANT

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10  THE PLANT

Fan Fiction and Modern Literature: The Collision of Two Worlds KARINA AWAD-BATTISTA STAFF WRITER

fan fiction (noun): stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the internet called also fanfic This is how Merriam-Webster defines fan fiction. But anyone familiar with the genre will tell you that it goes much deeper than that. Once a niche activity for fans to put their own spins on TV shows and movie franchises, fan fiction has become an integral part of the literary industry. Plenty of bestselling books have originated from an author modifying a pre-existing story they love, changing names and polishing it to the point that it becomes their own. The origin of fan fiction is hard to define because we did not always consider that people could have ownership over stories the way that we do now. Let’s go back to the 15th century, long before fanfic was even a term. The printing press was not yet widespread, and copyright laws were certainly not a thing: most stories were transmitted orally, meaning they were considered more of a public property. This also means that we can’t be sure if anything inspired by something else was really considered fan fiction, since it never belonged to anyone in the first place. Take Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, one of his most famous works, is based on a poem known as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke, which is itself an adaptation of an Italian novella. Shakespeare maintained the original plot but compressed it to occur over just a few days and changed Romeo’s name. The big changes occurred in the supporting characters, particularly by adding in Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, who doesn’t exist in the original story. The storylines of the Nurse, Tybalt, and Friar Lawrence also differ significantly. This is not the only time that Shakespeare adapted stories written by others, and he is certainly not

VIA IMBD

the first to do so. Modern fan fiction is considered to have gained popularity in the 60s from Star Trek interpolations, but before that, the Romans had their own fun adapting stories. Virgil’s poem The Aeneid is an expansion of Homer’s The Odyssey, as well as The Iliad. If we consider this to fit under the definition of fanfic, that means the practice dates to as early as 29 BC (it’s unclear exactly when The Aeneid was written, but it was sometime between 29 and 19 BC). Modern fan fiction is very different from Shakespeare’s version. These days, it’s mostly published online on dedicated websites. Fanfiction.net and Wattpad, among others, are some that were quite popular in the early 2010s and are still around today. Today, the most renowned place for publishing fan fiction is widely considered to be Archiveofourown.org. Archive of our own, often abbreviated to AO3, is a nonprofit website that is distinguished by its tag system which allows authors to sort their stories by fandoms, maturity ratings, tropes, and more. It currently has over 18 million works published by around 11 million registered users. Although stories are normally based on pre-existing fiction, some are centered around real people and celebrities. In 2025, the #11 most popular fandom by volume of works published on

AO3 was Formula 1, and #14 was the K-POP group Stray Kidz. Even topics such as men’s hockey and youtubers made the top 100. There are an infinite number of possible plot points explored, from inserting characters into alternate universes to bringing people back from the dead. Ultimately, fan fiction has become a way for any kind of fan to explore ‘what ifs’ and create their own version of things. Social aspects of platforms, such as commenting, or giving “kudos” in AO3’s case, allow users to interact and bond over each other’s writing. The growing popularity of fanfic has formed an increasing sense of community for those who read and write on these sites. Although fan fiction is mostly written in English on Archive of our Own, it’s become widespread enough for a variety of languages, such as Mandarin, Chinese and Russian, to appear on the platform.

ARTS & CULTURE     11

Fan fiction has not only created its own circle of fans, but has affected other sectors entirely, specifically the publishing industry. The rise of fanfic has prompted publishers to scour platforms for emerging writers and even hold contests through them. For about 16 years, Wattpad has hosted the Watty Awards, an annual fan fiction contest whose winners are chosen by Wattpad’s team. In 2025, 4 authors received the grand prize of five thousand US dollars, as well as “priority consideration for series, film, and publishing opportunities with WEBTOON Productions and more.” Perhaps one of the most famous instances of a story being published through Wattpad is Anna Todd’s After series, which was eventually adapted into several movies. After started as a Harry Styles fan fiction published by Todd on Wattpad. It eventually became extremely popular, amassing over one billion reads. Soon after, Todd was contacted by Wattpad, and her book went up for auction; it ended up being acquired by Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books for six figures. The movie rights were then acquired by Paramount, who released the first movie in 2019, which Todd was a producer on. As of 2026, the five After films have made a combined total of 168.9 million at the box office, and the books have sold over 12 million copies. This is a crucial aspect of how fan fiction has evolved. It has become not only a place for people to explore their passion for writing, but also for budding authors to break into the industry. Of course, After is hardly the first instance

of this happening. In 2009, Fanfiction. net was the reigning platform for publishing fanfic: it also happens to be where Fifty Shades of Grey was posted for the first time, under the title Master of the Universe. Before being selfpublished and being later picked up by a publishing company, the story was a fan fiction about the relationship between the main characters of Twilight, Bella and Edward. It was not until E.L. James decided to self-publish the book that the names of the protagonists were changed to Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. The book rights were acquired a year later, in 2012, and the first film of the series was released in 2015, starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. Recently, Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, a novel about a college professor and a PhD student falling in love, was adapted to the big screen. The origin of this viral book was an AO3 fan fiction of Kylo Ren and Rey from Star Wars set in an academia-themed alternate universe. The infamous City of Bones by Cassandra Clare was heavily based on a Harry Potter fanfic known as The Draco Trilogy that she, herself, had published on Fanfiction.net.

“It just goes to show that not every best-selling series begins with a pitch to a publishing house; sometimes, it starts with a Twilight fan fiction.”

Over the years, fan fiction has begun to overlap heavily with the publishing industry and has awarded many authors their big breaks. The impact has been so large that it has even produced breakout roles for many actors.

“Without fanfic, would Dakota Johnson even have a career?” Although it’s often disregarded as a nerdy pastime for those who live vicariously through the internet (we see you, Kat from Euphoria), fan fiction has proven itself to be an accessible way of publishing that can lead to serious career opportunities. This is the modern version of Pamela Anderson getting discovered at a football game; this is the age of fan fiction.

VIA INDIES UNLIMITED

12  THE PLANT

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. High ELSIE DUQUE HILLS CO-MANAGING EDITOR Reefers. Mary Jane. The Devil's lettuce. Humanity's indulgence in THC, formally known as tetrahydrocannabinol, has rarely been discrete. From reluctant tokes in your mother’s dingy basement to medicinal cannabidiol before a business meeting, the drug's prevailing usage has undoubtedly cemented its space in our society. As Cannabis use becomes increasingly prevalent, the drug has cultivated unique meanings within differing social frameworks. Rebellious teenagers sneakily indulge to feel like John Lydon, Dawson students smoke J’s before their 8 AM humanities classes, and professors certainly aren't opposed to some nighttime CBD selfcare. And, although these walks of life, reasons, and excuses may appear starkly different at face value, there are standout commonalities that put the ‘We’ in Weed. As I’ve grown to indulge in the ‘finer’ things life has to offer, I’ve begun to notice a strange habit curled into the inebriated behaviour of individuals.

“There is perhaps no rite more sacred in the stoner's universe than the post-toke refrigerator pilgrimage. It is a systematic sequence that follows a rigid chain of events. ” After losing a battle against incessant giggles, and pursuing a lengthy hour of existential chatter —the clock strikes midnight. This is the precise moment when your inner Dr. Jekyll hides away, and the foul Mr. Hyde comes to play. Suddenly, your disgruntled figure hobbles towards the kitchen. As you creak open the fridge door, a pool of divine light bathes your stoned features. The stale fragments of whole-wheat tortillas hidden in the depths of your fridge become a delicacy and a fistful of chocolate chips strangely distorts into a five-course menu. The distinction

VIA STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

between sustenance and gluttony is gone, and the act of eating takes on a significance that is utterly laughable to the sober observer. However, don’t be fooled: the careful intersection between hunger and cannabis is no Robert Louis Stevenson myth. Cannabis compounds interact with the body's endocannabinoid system, which simultaneously influences appetite as well as the brain's reward pathways. Ultimately, this relationship is what makes food so pleasurable. The aforementioned bodily fervor is especially true when paired with saccharine, sugary foods or deliciously greasy meals. Moreover, inhaled cannabis has been shown to increase the levels of hormones that are linked to appetite. Cannabis distorts our senses and perceptions of food so deeply that we turn nearly unrecognizable, condemned to an insatiable lust for devouring. We seem to savour things in a way that is exceptional to our tastebuds. A novel world of secret flavours is exposed to our brains; suddenly, we can’t get enough of the high. Familiar foods acquire somewhat of a theatrical quality, where their identities become veiled by the idyllic mask of Thalia. As such, the business of eating becomes an intricate ritual. The relationship between cannabis and food extends far beyond a midnight raid on a stale pack of pretzels. An entire industry composed of brightly-coloured THC-infused gummies to gourmet MasterChef-style edibles has made itself ever-so apparent. What was once the stuff of basement folklore has jarringly

found its way onto the spread sheets of entrepreneurs, who are just itching to turn drug dependence into a get-rich-quick scheme. The unification of marijuana and gastronomy was inevitable, seeing as capitalism has never been keen on leaving desires unexploited. The irony is that the munchies were never a particularly glamorous notion to begin with. They stayed reserved to a crumpled bag of who-knows-what tossed around between friends, and to those late-night kitchen confessions that somehow made perfect sense at the ripe hour of two in the morning. The very same colloquial culture has now adopted a bourgeois veneer. Our inebriated appetites have remained constant, but the ways in which our gluttony is plated has evidently evolved. The authenticity of a stoner's pantry has been ransacked, simply to be morphed into yet another business plan. Greedy entrepreneurs have stripped down a cult-classic pastime and molded it into a shiny experience. Not even the munchies are safe from gentrification. As such, perhaps the cannabisinduced emergence of our Mr. Hyde isn’t such a terrible thing. Let Hyde roam free, but let us not mistake the hand that feeds him for a friend. We must redirect our primalistic tendencies away from our late night snacks. Embrace the high, but never forget the true lurkers profiting from your voracity.

At the Altar of AO3

ARTS & CULTURE     13

ORION PEYROL CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF Once a week, I sit on a wooden bench to feel a little less lonely. No matter if the sun is setting or if the world is getting colder, it will always be there for me, just waiting for me to sit back down. When I eventually do, as I always will, the beats of a wellworn story envelop me. However, my pews are not placed within the confines of an institution; rather, they exist in spaces carved out by fellow fans on the internet— my fandom. Religion, like all socially constructed concepts, has a purpose for its existence; it speaks to human beings’ various needs. Religion serves to instill a sense of meaning to life, a place to feel close to our community, to gather and to learn from others. More importantly, especially for the comparison I am preparing to draw, it also serves as a common ground for people to understand each other, a springboard for other conversations to be had. All of which has become rarer and rarer as religion becomes further and further removed from most of our lives and loses its place as a cultural touchstone.

VIA PINTEREST

The principle of separating religion from state and public life, or secularism, is a very old concept which has only grown in fervor and ubiquity in the past few decades. Secularism is a vast and complicated debate, and for the purpose of this conversation, not a deeply relevant one; it is undeniable that religion has a purpose and a reason for existing, and its absence in a lot of our lives has left a gap that it once occupied. I, however, do not think that that many of us feel a deep chasm left by its dearth, because most of us have already filled it with another meaning-creating and community-building theology: the Doctrine of Fandom, gaining followers by the day! And if you are feeling the loss of religion in some way, feeling lonely, purposeless, like creativity doesn’t come to you like it used to: join a fandom! Fandoms are genuinely, at their best, places that promote creativity, reading, literacy skills, debate and argumentation (if you know anything about fandoms, you know those arguments can get pretty heated) and most of all, a feeling of togetherness. Fandom speaks to something we all have and feel — a want for connection. Common interests are the easiest way to make friends, and a shared love for a piece of media to discuss is what I would call the grown up version of running up to someone and asking if they want to be friends. Fandoms are the way they are because of the original modern fandom, Star Trek. Fans of the series made what we consider the closest equivalent to contemporary fanfiction, a fan zine (a fanmade magazine) called Spockanalia which launched in 1967 and used to be physically mailed to fans. It is credited with a large part of the growth of the Star Trek fandom and subsequently fandoms as a whole. Its format encouraged fans to collaborate in its creation, allowing them to contribute their own works, respond to each other, and spark a decades-strong culture and love for media. Fandom has been accepted into the cultural consciousness as a normal way of interacting with media. It is no longer

such an odd thing to discuss your fervent love for a piece of media on main.

“What started out as being seen as a dirty little secret is now so mainstream that it’s become our way to make friends in real life. ” I’d say, fandom occupies the same space as religion once did— even if you’re only a passive practicant of fandom, you may still make references to Brooklyn 99 or Breaking Bad to your coworkers on a slow day. We no longer need to compliment somebody’s shoelaces to signal our “incrowd” status as was once tradition on tumblr; the in-crowd is everyone. I’d actually go even further with my comparison: fandom not only fills the role that religion once did but it does so by mimicking the structure of Abrahamic religions. The main practice of those religions, boiled down to the simplest version, is for followers of a central manuscript to gather around routinely to discuss and enjoy said manuscript in ritualistic and communal practices. Fandom even has resemblance to the way religions further divides itself based on interpretations of their manuscripts: within a fandom, people will disagree based on ships (fans either inventing or heavily supporting a romantic relationship between characters), character interpretation, and headcannons (traits or ideas attributed to a character by fans that are not present in the original piece of media). Fandom can give and, for many of us, has given so much. It occupies such an incredibly unique position within culture. It’s still relatively new enough to not have much academic research done about it and yet it fills such archaic needs within us. I invite you to crack open AO3, type in a piece of media you enjoy, and spend a night surrounding yourself with some pure, unfiltered joy just for the sake of it.

14  THE PLANT

“You do not have to be Good”: On the Nature of Being CHLOE BERCOVITZ CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF Among the bleaker moments, in which I feel less than myself, I cannot help but resort to nature. Because, to me, to be outside is to be free. I am unconfined. I feel small — as big, beautiful things nestle around me: trees, rain, birds, even. And, I think of Mary Oliver. She whispers to me: “You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” This mantra of mine is echoed from her 1986 poem Wild Geese. It becomes easier to accept oneself, only upon stepping outside of the world we have created for ourselves. Our very best tool for perspective is natural: it is nature. And what a comfort it is to know that time and time again, the human race will forever have the same refuge! And yet, the other world of urbanity that we find ourselves returning to, rarely affords us the same freedom that I speak of. We live in a culture that has found itself concerned more with the future than with the present tense. I think of all the ways in which we attempt to ameliorate our mental health. What are we told? To track our habits, optimize our routines, wake up earlier, scrutinize our shortcomings — in the name of self-improvement? This is not to say that I blame anything new; it is our nature. Take Aristotle's conception of well-being, eudaimonia: the cultivation of virtue through the exercise of human capacities. Yet, there is a distinction between cultivating a life that is true to your character and desires — and treating oneself as defective. The former asks what kind of life is worth living. The latter asks what must be fixed before we can be satisfied with the one we have. And all while acknowledging the merit of such things, I’d like to suggest an alternative, as well. I have such an issue with the weight and strain of our omnipresent, shared assumption that our present selves are perpetually insufficient.

MAUERSEGLER BY LÉO-PAUL SAMUEL ROBERT

“How can we possibly let ourselves live and love if we think that something is wrong with us?” I invite you into a world in which the narrative is shifted. You will be embraced with open arms by Mary Oliver herself. Nature offers a way to reconsider my distinction! Its rhythms do not conform to our expectations of constant progress. A tree loses its leaves without becoming less of a tree. A field lies dormant without forfeiting its capacity to bloom. But as individuals, we want uncertainty to resolve into certainty — for rest to produce energy, and for every difficult period to yield some discernible lesson. We have always demanded that our suffering ought to justify itself through growth. And while I’d like to think that I have more obligations than the maple tree that is forever perched on my front lawn — and I recognize that nature couldn’t find itself as a cure for the social conditions that have made such relentless productivity ever so necessary – nature will always be one of the most valuable reminders to us all, in its own right. Not everything meaningful can be measured. Not everything that matters must be rendered useful, in some way.

So, in choosing not to be good, one does not need to reject the possibility of change. I would argue that the first stop lies in reflection, and changing our way of approaching it. Because, we can strive towards a better life without making our present one an obstacle to it. We can feel our struggles, deeply, without having them dreaded — embedded within our identity. When I step outside, and I sip my coffee in my backyard, I know that I am not free of my insecurities, or my ambitions. They are still me. The world I have hoped to step away from will forever remain waiting for me. But it is in those moments that my attention belongs to something other than myself. The birds move through the sky without needing to justify to themselves the direction in which they have chosen. And I am reminded, as well: I exist beyond the sum of my aspirations. And whenever I do not feel as if I am being good enough, Mary Oliver is there, kindly offering me a second reminder:

“before I can become anything, I am already here. I am not a problem to be solved. I need no justification to be.”

VOICES     15

Vacancy and the Rooftop Farming Culture of Montreal rules or goes beyond what the designers and Tokyo. In Detroit, the population

VIA MICROHABITAT

LEO BARON STAFF WRITER

decline over the 20th century left a housing surplus, where Cox’s strategy prioritized landscape architecture to let nature reclaim the empty public spaces. For example, using graphic street art to slow down traffic in order to potentially create greenways between neighbourhoods In Tokyo, post-World War II, there was an unparalleled urban growth using cheap and undurable materials to stimulate an economic model reliant on fast production. Due to property value and the earthquake building codes, many houses in Japan are destroyed after 30 years. This led Tsuneyama to renovate undesired homes through the reuse of wasted door frames and reviving dead soil into functional environments for multiple families. In both cases, vacancy shows that a property can never be complete — it can always be restored.

“Vacancy doesn’t ask for developers to do something grand, it asks for humanist people to care for their environment.” Instead of telling citizens: “24-hour surveillance” or “No littering”, which often makes people feel watched or unwelcomed, environmental education could replace them, making the citizens feel that they aren’t threats but rather participants and little change-makers with powerful rights. In Montreal, roofs are often locked by doors with a sign that says “Authorized personnel only”. Rooftop farms contradict that traditional rule. Like Cox’s and Tsuneyama’s solutions to vacancy, vacant spaces don’t need to be built and destroyed—they can be aménagés. A rooftop farm serves this exact purpose, showing that vacancy is not about what can be potentially built but who are the people that can potentially care for it. VIA CCACHANNEL

In my sculpture class, I recently built an interactive sculpture or what is essentially just a suggestion box, that asked a simple question I myself could not answer: “Quel type d’aménagement devrait-on faire ici?”. The idea was for visitors to slip a note with their request into a machine, and the machine’s job was to reply with direct refusals: LOYER + 20%, Zone commerciale depuis 2019, Consultation déjà terminée etc. It was inspired by the work of rootkid on Youtube, an artist and unofficial digital-era critic, who tries to make invisible infrastructures such as artificial intelligent surveillance, material objects. I wanted to represent the friction and impossibility of talking to bureaucracy, as a physical device that undermines the citizen’s passion for advocating change, one that makes the viewer feel belittled. In this way, inviting them to question and imagine ways around the limitations placed on them. The machine asks about aménagement but it answers with phrases that are about développement. Aménagement comes from ménager, to manage a household in French. How can we picture vacancy differently, not by aluminum gates and a lack of development or as places to be urbexed but as homes that haven’t been cared for enough? The rooftop-farming movement in Montreal differs from conventional development, because it is more of an aménagement: re-using and re-arranging the overlooked spaces into places full of life. Bernard Tschumi is an architect and writer who suggests that architecture and transgression are not so different. In his 1976 essay “Architecture and Transgression” he describes architecture as coming “alive”, when the “event” that takes place inside it doesn't fit the

intended it for. An example of that idea is Lufa Farms: a business that only operates on pre-existing buildings. In 2009, Mohamed Hage, along with Lauren Rathmell, Kurt Lynn and Yahya Badran founded Lufa Farms; an organization pioneering urban agriculture as a means of integrating local food production into a city-built environment. It took two years of convincing to finally create the first commercial greenhouse rooftop in the world, in Ahuntsic, Montreal. One of the reasons it took two years is because at the time, the city hadn’t yet created any zoning regulations for urban agriculture in industrial or commercial areas. Just like the grass that grows in the cracks of sidewalks, rooftop farms do not demolish nor replace, they squeeze and place themselves almost naturally, where municipal design does not account for. What used to be 31,000 square feet; today, is 500,000 square feet spread over 6 different buildings. Throughout this journey, the principle has always remained the same: “Using no new land.” About a decade ago, Alexandre Ferrari-Roy started an enterprise called MicroHabitat, selling rooftop farms to different companies around the world trying to promote local food security and a green lifestyle in the corporate world. This enables workers that spend hours in the office to step outside and experience a connection with nature. It is an opportunity to possibly learn about species while sourcing and making their own food, all, only minutes away from their desks. In January of 2026, the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) held a panel titled “What places get to define vacancy?” between Maurice Cox, a professor of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard and former director of planning and development for the City of Detroit, and Mio Tsuneyama, the architect and cofounder of Studio mnm, a Tokyo-based collective advancing urban resource reclamation. This discussion was, to say the least, a powerful indicator on how to bridge the communication between two cities with completely different approaches and reasons for urban design: Detroit

VISUAL ARTS

16  THE PLANT

A MESSAGE FROM THE CURATOR

This issue, I wanted to have a couple pages focusing on a single artist. For that reason, individuals could submit their own works to the Plant’s email for a chance to be featured. This month, the lucky individual is Andrea Borbolla Fabila, who I did a short interview with on her inspirations and creative processes. Submit pieces next month to be featured too!

Where do you get your biggest inspirations from visually? I see a graphic novel influence — is that accurate? Yeah actually! I’ve been getting into DC comics a lot, and there’s this guy, Sean Gordon Murphy, who drew the art for the White Knight, which is one of my favourite comics.

Untitled Andrea Borbolla Fabila @conf0unded (Instagram)

Stylistically, what about the White Knight do you like? [Gordon]’s characters are really expressive, yet he rarely ever draws detailed eyes. His style is very gestural. I kind of want to be more like him in that sense.

Untitled Andrea Borbolla Fabila @conf0unded (Instagram)

Where do you get inspiration from that does not involve other studio art? I would say movies. I really like the movie Caravaggio, and I’m not sure if I see this as much in my art, but Velvet Goldmine as well. Music too, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. What would you say your favourite art movements you feel might inspire you? Kind of basic, but impressionism. Oh, and Rococo! I really love that one. It’s so elaborate, it’s so cool to see that as an artist and just be amazed. It’s definitely a big one I want to get more into. Untitled Andrea Borbolla Fabila @conf0unded (Instagram)

17

Untitled Andrea Borbolla Fabila @conf0unded (Instagram)

You’re in the Illustration program. What is the influence of your art education on your own creative projects? Do you find it really helpful or do you find that it can be restrictive in a way? I feel like Illustration at Dawson specifically is very cool in that it teaches you the tools you need to be better technically, but it also doesn’t constrain you too much; you still get your chance to do a lot of personal stuff and submit them as projects. The fact that you get a lot of anatomy lessons really helps you improve technically. I find that rather than holding me back, my art has really improved since I started going out of my way to do model drawings outside of class. Do you find you have to know the rules before you break them? A little bit, I guess. You kind of just do bullshit and then you’re like, oh I learned this, and then you apply it.

The Hermit, Andrea Borbolla Fabila @conf0unded (Instagram)

How much do you value realism? What are its strengths and weaknesses? I think for realism, it’s really important as an artist to know how to emulate it, but at the same time, if you stick too much to realism, your art just kind of gets dull over time. There’s a lot of skill in it, but if that’s all you know how to do, and you don’t know how to add your creative juices into it, who are you? What do you have? What is your process like? Do each of your artworks have a specific meaning, or do you make it and afterwards go back and think about what it was about? I usually just start off just kind of doodling whatever, and then as I go, I’ll define it. Like the bird one —The Hermit, I started off drawing a crow, and then decided to give him a robe, and then, oh my god, the Hermit tarot card. I kind of just drew that connection.

18  THE PLANT

Who Has Health? Reading Vita: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment MARTIN KALOSHI CO-MANAGING EDITOR

“The kids are all sick; rain passes through the plastic. Who has health? Health nobody has…. Every day we are ill, all kinds of illnesses, it is never good. There is no medical aid. Only if one has money for the bus and gets in line early in the morning and waits till late at night. But then one loses the day of work. To waste time, that is all there is.”

MATT BLACK VIA TIME

These words are José Duarte's, taken from anthropologist João Biehl's Vita: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment. To make space for a new tourist centre, the government kicked José, his wife, and their four children out of the city's historic district. They live on the outskirts of Salvador, Brazil, in a hut made of plastic bags. While they are covered by Brazil's universal healthcare system on paper, José explains that at the medical office, he is only made to sign forms that never get back to him. He and his neighbours are stressed sick by the lack of housing and jobs, safety concerns, and growing police violence in their area. They feel the government has failed them, and that they've failed their children. José's destiny is not an isolated case. Zones of social abandonment, as Biehl describes them, exist all over Brazil. One of them, a complex named Vita in the southern city of Porto Alegre, would become the setting for Biehl's ethnography of the same name. Vita is where the homeless, mentally ill, and dying await death. Started by exdrug dealer Zé das Drogas in the ‘80s

as a makeshift rehabilitation centre, it soon became populated by society's sick and unwanted, who were dumped there by hospitals, police, and family. The complex is crowded and dirty, with the sickest individuals separated from the recovering ones only by a gate and some volunteers. In Biehl's words, Vita is a place of "waiting for [nothing].” There, Biehl meets Catarina: a kind-mannered young woman who is considered by everyone around her to be “crazy.” We get to know Catarina intimately through her accounts to Biehl, as well as the dictionary of seemingly random words she's compiling. In just over 300 pages, we are made aware of the institutions — medical, state, and familial — that mediated Catarina's eventual social abandonment. Catarina was first hospitalized for mental illness by a family friend in 1988, during a time where patients could deny hospitalization for all reasons but psychiatric (these patients were seen as threats to self and family, who could consequently dump relatives they considered too difficult to handle.) There, she was immediately diagnosed as schizophrenic.

VOICES     19

At this time, Catarina was a housewife, married to her husband since the age of eighteen and living with his family. She details her home life:

“When my thoughts agreed with my husband and his family, everything was fine….But when I disagreed with them, I was mad. It's like a side of me had to be forgotten. The side of wisdom.” Her husband then had no trouble getting rid of her. With psychiatry validating his account of her behaviour, her voice was effectively silenced. This all occurred during Brazil's largescale push for deinstitutionalization, where public health officials and physicians were becoming increasingly aware of the need to "debiologize pathology and socialize suffering.” The idea was to move mental health care away from long-term psychiatric institutions and toward more community-based settings in the aim of offering better care. In practice, however, Catarina was put under a slew of pharmaceuticals, successfully tagged as "mad." In and out of various hospitals around the country for decades, she finally ended up at Vita. Throughout this time, she would often complain of pain in her legs. Her husband's family noted that she had been "dragging her legs" even when she was still at home. When we meet Catarina through Biehl in the early 2000s, she is already wheelchair-bound.

“Now I can no longer leave. I must wait for some time. I consulted a private doctor, two or three times. When it is needed, they also give us medication here. So one is always dependent. One becomes dependent.”

When she told doctors about her "rheumatism,” her pain was dismissed as merely a side effect of her delusions.

“Only because I cannot walk I have to stay in the stone age here in Porto Alegre Our voice makes contact with the infirmity and becomes imperceptible.” With the help of Biehl and the doctors he goes to see on Catarina's behalf, Catarina's symptoms were finally understood as Machado-Joseph disease, a neurodegenerative disorder causing a gradual loss of muscle control. While she was able to receive better medical attention, her physical decline was already irreversible. Catarina lived out the rest of her life at Vita, where she died in 2003. How many Catarinas are there in the world? If I had to guess, it would be in the millions. Tens of millions, maybe. In the wake of COVID-19 in Montreal, we saw Vita unfolding in our own longterm care homes. Résidence Herron, a Dorval senior home founded in 1988 (just one year after Vita), made headlines in April 2020 after seeing 47 residents die following mass staff desertion. According to various health professionals who entered, conditions were "concentration camp-like." Residents were discovered dehydrated, malnourished, and lying in soiled beds or overflowing diapers.

Joyce Echequan, an Atikamekw mother who died at the hands of Quebec's healthcare providers during the pandemic, is a tragedy that will also stay in my mind. In a Facebook Live video she recorded in the hospital before her death, she's seen crying out in agony as healthcare workers make racist remarks and call her "stupid as hell," neglecting her severe heart complications for drug withdrawal. Catarina, José, the seniors at Herron, and Joyce exist all over the world — sometimes passively, sometimes actively abandoned by the complex web of medicine, state, economy, and family that has failed to protect them. Their stories remind us that health is inseparable from a patient’s economic reality, their environment, and the institutions that govern their life. Vita dissects the networks that caused Catarina, then forces us to recognize a deeply painful truth: there are Catarinas everywhere.

20  THE PLANT

Ode à la jeunesse révoltée ALAA ETTAOUTH VOICES EDITOR

Depuis le 18 septembre 2026, un sujet d’actualité prime sur nos médias et nos réseaux sociaux. Le mouvement lycéen de 2026 en France soulève plusieurs débats dans les sphères politiques. Que se soit des vidéos de citoyens déguisés en Captain America ou des extraits d’un orchestre qui rythme la marche des manifestants, il met surtout en lumière des dénonciations universelles et la violence choquante à l’encontre de jeunes étudiants du corps policier. Les étudiants marchent contre les conditions d’enseignements et de scolarité: pas assez de profs, des horaires scolaires insoutenables et des salles de classes en ruine. Ils militent également pour la suppression de l’application d’admission aux études supérieures Parcoursup, une plateforme longuement critiquée pour son manque de transparence au niveau des critères d’admissibilité et sa restriction de places disponibles. En 2025, près de 39 000 candidats n’avaient reçu aucune proposition d’universités à la fin de la procédure, soit 6,5% des demandeurs selon les calculs du Monde. Contrairement à la croyance populaire, le mouvement n’a pas pris naissance dans la métropole parisienne, mais bien dans le département outremer français de Mayotte, le 31 août 2026. Un lycée est bloqué pendant 5 semaines pour dénoncer les conditions d’études. Plus tard, le 7 septembre, le département de la Guyane entame le même mécanisme. Comment le pays de la Révolution française a-t-il sombré dans la violence et la mutilation de sa population qui use de son droit fondamental de manifester? Pourquoi aujourd’hui, se faire entendre, engendre nécessairement brutalité et agression?

VIA RADIO-CANADA

N.B.: Cet article a été écrit le 30 octobre 2026 et aborde des évènements qui sont toujours en cours et qui risquent d’évoluer rapidement.

La statue de la République est recouverte d’une banderole sur laquelle on peut lire « 2026, la police mutile les lycéens », lors d’une manifestation à Paris, le 17 octobre 2026. Le maintien de l’ordre à la française La France a longtemps été un pays reconnu pour son maintien de l’ordre de manière pacifique lors des manifestations à la fin des années 90. Elle suivait une doctrine précise dans l’instauration de ses lois avant de totalement basculer à l’opposé: la force pour contrôler les démonstrations massives ne doit être utilisée qu’en dernier recours. L’expression du maintien de l’ordre à la française est donc née, les forces de l’ordre vont privilégier la mise à distance des foules plutôt que sur l’exercice de la violence sur les individus. Depuis la Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de 1789, après la Révolution française qui marque la fin d'une intense révolte de classe contre les abus de la noblesse, une transformation sociale a eu lieu et marque un tournant historique pour la France. En effet, puisque l’État s’approprie le droit d’utiliser la force, ce bien public est régi, pour « l’avantage de tous et non point de ceux qui la servent ». Désormais, les citoyens sont les destinataires et les bénéficiaires du contrôle de la force publique par l’État qui en détient l’exclusivité. Dans le livre Politiques du désordre d’Olivier Fillieule et Fabien Jobard, cette période est définie comme la « pacification tendancielle ». Les gendarmes se professionnalisent et sont désormais encadrés par des lois qui régissent l’usage de la force comme par exemple, la sommation obligatoire (ordre formel et impératif de la justice)

avant de dissiper une foule de force. Les gendarmes tirent une grande fierté de ces nouvelles méthodes de négociations et médiation et la France vante sa technique pacifique à toute sa population. Cependant, l’armée s’occupe toujours de gérer les démonstrations plus importantes et applique ses méthodes militaires sur la population, tuant de nombreux citoyens et perpétuant toujours le cycle de la violence. Progressivement, les forces de l'ordre se spécialisent. En 1921, le gouvernement français va créer les premières troupes spécialisées dans le maintien de l’ordre appelées les Escadrons Gendarmerie mobile (EGM). Après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, la police crée également les compagnies républicaines de sécurité (CRS). Ces escouades se basent sur une hiérarchisation de commandement: tant que le chef ne dit pas de tirer, on ne tire pas. Ils vont aussi commencer à appliquer une utilisation graduelle de la force et offrir des issues de sorties au manifestant. Toutefois, la police municipale parisienne ne suit aucunement ce mouvement de spécialisation et fait preuve d’une violence déplorable. Il y aura donc toujours des morts et des bavures. Entre le 1er octobre 1975 et la fin de l’année 1982, 178 personnes ont été tuées par les forces de l’ordre au cours de 153 actions. Malgré cet écart institutionnel, la France continuera d’investir dans la recherche de techniques de mise à distance et de limitations de l’emploi de la force pour perfectionner son modèle, qui faisait la fierté du pays des droits de l’homme.

VIA MARTIN KALOSHI

VOICES   21

VIA RADIO-CANADA

Selon Rose du Nord, la violence institutionnelle est définie comme « toute action commise dans et par une institution, ou toute absence d’action, qui cause à [la personne] une souffrance physique ou psychologique inutile et/ou qui entrave son évolution ultérieure ». Elle n’est pas flagrante comme la violence physique, et elle est étroitement liée au racisme systémique. En 1995, dans la loi Pasqua, la lutte contre les « violences urbaines », les actes de délinquances qu’on associe rapidement avec la jeunesse des quartiers populaires, devient une des 5 missions prioritaires pour le corps policier. Le ministre de l’Intérieur de l’époque Nicolas Sarkozy va pondre en 2002 (adoptée définitivement en 2011) la loi LOPSI visant à doter la police de plus de moyens financiers et techniques pour contrer ces « violences urbaines ». Les méthodes violentes employées par les gendarmes qui violentent les jeunes lycéens sont perpétuées parce que des lois légitiment la déshumanisation que les policiers portent sur la jeunesse marginalisée. VIA DE STANDAARD

Un retour à la brutalité sur une liste de treize (pouvoir chauffer Comment un pays qui a passé autant son logement ou acheter des vêtements d’années à élaborer des techniques neufs par exemple. pacifiques de maintien de l’ordre a pu En 2025, 34 % des étudiants français tomber aussi bas et provoquer autant de sautent régulièrement des repas par brutalités aujourd’hui? manque d’argent. Peut-on vraiment être surpris de Selon le média indépendant cette tournure quand un gouvernement Basta!, entre 1977 et 2022, 861 morts participe activement à limiter les droits provoquées par des forces de l’ordre d'expression du peuple, marginalise et ont été recensées. violente les populations de banlieue? À cette précarité s'ajoutent des L’acte de manifester n’a jamais été mesures toujours plus sévères qui intrinsèquement violent. En France, restreint le droit des citoyens de faire il s’agissait fondamentalement d'un valoir leurs revendications. À la suite mouvement pacifique qui a influencé le du mouvement des Gillets jaunes de courant politique et social par le pouvoir 2019, les députés de l’Assemblée des cris de ses masses à de nombreuses nationale ont voté des mesures qui reprises. En 1986 par exemple, le projet selon Amesnty internationale, brime de loi Devaquet visant à réformer les le droit de manifester pacifiquement: universités françaises en mettant les protéger son visage est un délit et le étudiants en concurrence à l’entrée des juge d'instruction peut interdire à une universités a été abandonné. Durant le personne mise en examen de participer à mouvement étudiant massif qui a des manifestations sur la voie publique. directement participé à l'annulation La violence institutionnelle et du projet de loi, l’étudiant de 22 ans l’empathie sélective Malik Oussekine a été frappé à mort Le 17 octobre, Limoges, le bâtiment par des policiers. historique de l'hôtel de ville est ravagé Cette violence n’est pas innée aux par les flammes. Vraisemblablement, manifestations, mais elle est le résultat plusieurs citoyens ont tissé un lien d’efforts par le gouvernement de les d’âme avec ce monument parce que rendre désuètes. Sans indignation rapidement, les images font le tour publique, il est plus facile pour les du monde et suscitent la colère. On politiciens de s’accaparer les pouvoir pleure certes, un héritage physique désirés sans controverse et faire embrasé par le feu, mais réellement, passer des lois qui profitent à leurs un immeuble sans âme. homologues riches et teneurs de “Les voix se font entendre pour grandes entreprises. Le peuple écope un bâtiment qui s’effondre, mais et quand il refuse de continuer à vivre dans la misère et la violence qui lui se taisent pour les cris des jeunes sont imposées, il écope encore plus. adolescents dont le futur croule. Selon l’Institut national de la On se précipite de condamner statistique et des études économiques, la violence des magasins Louis en 2025, 13,5 % de la population Vuitton pilés, mais on détourne métropolitaine vivant dans un logement le regard sur celle qui fait perdre ordinaire ne peut pas, pour des raisons financières, couvrir les dépenses d’au des yeux à des jeunes comme moins cinq éléments de la vie courante Maël (16 ans) et Maïssa (17 ans).”

Bally Bagayoko, maire de SaintDenis (commune au nord de Paris), s’interposant entre les policiers et les lycéens qui manifestent. J’admire cette jeunesse pour sa bravoure, mais cela me fait mal au cœur de savoir qu’avec se faire entendre, vient la violence. Malgré cette repression, les jeunes continuent de crier pour se faire entendre et de faire valoir leurs droits. Comme Bally Bagayoko, que l’on soit politicien, parent, professeur ou étudiant, ne restons pas indifférent à ce que tout un peuple clame. Levons-nous pour la jeunesse et protégeons ce qu’elle a à dire. Il n’y a rien de plus précieux en démocratie que la parole de ceux qui participent activement à la consolider.

22  THE PLANT

On Our Relationship with Sound LARA JUDAH STAFF WRITER

VIA PINTEREST

Take a second to listen to your surroundings. What can you hear? Perhaps it is the loud hum of the metro as you take the green line to school. Or maybe you’re reading this edition of The Plant in a busy cafe, the familiar hiss of coffee machines tickling your eardrums. Wherever we go, we are bound to be enveloped in an array of sounds — the scratching of pen against paper, the strident screech of your alarm clock, leaves crunching underfoot, planes roaring overhead. Despite the substantial presence of noise in our lives, we often underestimate its impact on our wellbeing. In his recently published book Clamor, Chris Berdik investigates how our noisy world is affecting our health and concentration: “Increasingly, scientists are connecting the biological dots between noise exposure, chronic stress, and the physiological precursors of disease.” And though we may not always be conscious of its impact, we still feel it. Berdik states that “sleep studies [...] suggest that noise can splinter our slumber below the level of our conscious awareness, harming health even among people who claim not to be bothered.”

Noise cannot physically enter your system as other pollutants can, but it is not wrong to think of it in a similar way — a toxin building up in your tissues with the passing of time. Studies have shown that chronic exposure to moderatedecibel noise have increased levels of cortisol in the bloodstreams of mice and humans, increasing blood pressure and inflammation in the body. Additionally, a meta-analysis of 14 studies established road traffic noise as a significant risk for cardiovascular disease. Noise is, in fact, a pollutant, and its effects are most evident when contrasted to its opposite: silence. Think of the unexpected relief that is felt upon finally turning off your oven fan after cooking an extravagant meal, or stepping out of a packed concert venue into the still street, ears buzzing.

“In a world full of noise, then, it is important to also reevaluate and perhaps even reclaim our relationship with silence.” “There is tremendous value in quiet,” Berdik writes, “and the appetite for sonic refuge grows in tandem with rising volume.” And yet, when faced with quiet situations, we often find them awkward and uncomfortable. In conversation, we seek to bypass moments of silence by engaging in small talk, or even interrupting one another. This is especially true in “speaking cultures,” which emphasize verbalization and talking quickly. Silence is avoided, as it can be perceived as a sign of disinterest or misunderstanding; it is seldom appreciated or conserved. On the other hand, “listening cultures” view silence as a sign of respect and reflection — it is something that is valued as an integral part of communication, rather than something to be avoided. “Speaking cultures” tend to be associated with individualistic societies, such as Germany, whereas “listening cultures”

are more common in collectivist countries like Japan. A cross cultural study conducted in 2008 found that Japanese conversations contained more than four times the amount of pauses that German conversations exhibited. Just as silence can be interpreted in various ways on a social level, we each possess our own individual relationship with silence as well. In a 2003 interview, author David Foster Wallace mentioned that “it seems significant that we don’t want things to be quiet ever anymore.” Listening to music, for example, is an auditory experience that we seek to pair with everything that we do, filling our ears with sound as we cook, study, walk, and even sleep. However, there is still a part of ourselves that craves the long bouts of silence that are needed to properly digest our experiences, and it does not get fed when we are constantly surrounded by noise. As Wallace puts it, this “makes itself felt in the body in a kind of dread.” Noise and silence can often be treated as mutually exclusive concepts, but their coexistence is vital. Just as a constant influx of noise can be exhaustive, so too can a prolonged period of silence start to feel suffocating. A healthy connection with our sonic environment starts with questioning our current relationship with noise and silence, and how we can reshape it in order to fully benefit from both of them. Our gentle moments of quiet reflection are just as important as those cacophonous social outings, and we could not fully appreciate one without the other. Though noise can pose harmful risks, through proper mitigation we can create an environment for ourselves that treats silence and noise not as auditory opponents, but rather two sides of the same coin.

SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT   23

Math, now, … Prof. Taimina’s Crochet Lesson , CHARLIE REUTER SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR Do you remember your high school teacher telling you that the angles in a triangle always sum to 180°? (When I asked this at the Plant office, almost all hands went up.) Well, your teacher didn’t tell the truth. Those angles can sum up to pretty much anything you like. To see why, grab some yarn and a slightly surprising but revolutionary mathematical tool: the crochet hook.

VIA DAINA TAIMINA

Then, some 2000 years later, we realized that the “obviously true” axioms aren’t actually true at all. Another axiom states that, if one has an arbitrary straight line and an arbitrary point, it is possible to draw exactly one line which goes through the point and is parallel to the (first) line. This sounds quite obvious, if one imagines drawing it on a flat piece of paper. But what if the surface we draw on isn’t flat at all - what if it’s curved? Welcome to: non-euclidian geometry. There are two types of curvature. The first one is simpler, so let’s start there: picture a sphere. On this surface, there are no parallel lines. (We define two lines as being parallel if they never intersect, even if we extend them infinitely.) On a sphere,

On a sphere, not only do Euclid’s assumptions on parallel lines not apply, even the “impossible” triangle with three right (90°) angles becomes possible! See the diagram, on the left. Despite the triangle seeming “bulgy”, on this spherical geometry, each of its lines is perfectly straight (the shortest path between two points).

VIA CHARLIE REUTER

The other type of curvature, called hyperbolic, is less intuitive. On a hyperbolic surface, there are an infinitude of parallel lines all going through one single point! See the diagram, on the right. For centuries, this surface was considered near impossible to visualize, and the very few models that existed were flimsy paper constructs, too fragile to handle. Until 1997, when mathematician Daina Taimiņa realized that the abstract surface she was trying to explain to her students was what she had been crocheting all along. She was the first to introduce a tactile, visual model. In crochet, one can “increase” stitches by going through the same stitch of the previous row twice. When stitches are increased, the fabric starts to curl, a technique used to, for example, shape a hat. If one increases too often, though, the fabric curls so much, it creates a coral-like structure.

This curly shape is actually a hyperbolic surface! If you were to draw two parallel (straight) lines on your crocheted piece, it would seem as though the lines were curving away from each other; in reality, it is the surface which expands between them. This curvature makes it possible to draw multiple parallel lines through the same point. On a hyperbolic surface, one can also create a triangle with three 0° angles! The reason the increased-stitch crochet work looks like a coral is because corals actually are a naturally occurring hyperbolic surface growth! In fact, a lot of shapes in nature (take kale, for example) tend to be hyperbolic, in order to increase the amount of surface area without taking up too much space. This is useful to capture more sunlight, to gather more nutrients, etc. Physicists even consider our entire universe to have a hyperbolic shape. VIA CRC PRESS

This story begins in ancient Greece, with a textbook: Euclid’s Elements. Spanning 13 volumes, it’s an impressive attempt to rigorously prove the field of mathematics as it was known at the time, using as tools only the ruler and the compass. In order to prove mathematical theorems, Euclid had to start somewhere. He settled on five obviously true statements, or “axioms”, from which he was able to derive all other theorems. One axiom, for example, is “all right angles are equal”. An immense success, the Elements remained the leading mathematical textbook up until the early 19th century.

any two straight lines seemingly “curve” together and eventually intersect. Think latitude lines on a globe, which intersect at the north & south poles. Longitude lines aren’t actually straight lines - you need to turn if you’re walking along them.

But let’s get back to your crochet hook. Crocheting a hyperbolic surface is very easy: if you know how to crochet back and forth on a chain, you’re all set. Start with a chain of about 10 stitches. Now, crochet back and forth, but every 4th (or 5th) stitch, instead of moving to the next, go through the same hole twice to increase. Look at you, breaking those millennia-old geometry rules! Your grandma would be proud. If you want to find out more, you should definitely check out Prof. Taimiņa’s excellent Ted talk, or her books, Experiencing Geometry (which is open source and can be found online), and Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes. The latter won the Euler Book Prize - and yes, also the “oddest title of the year” award!

24  THE PLANT OPENING STATEMENT SAL FRANCIS CREATIVE WRITING EDITOR

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I sometimes wonder why humans have always been so drawn to art, what impulse within us has caused us to want to create something that serves no practical purpose. Human art has been around for as long as humans have: finger paintings on cave walls, Renaissance sculptures, or the poem you have scrawled in the back of your notebook that you thought no one would ever see. I think now, more than ever, it’s important for us to uplift and celebrate art — because if it is so impractical, then why can’t we seem to live without it? I urge you to dig up that old poem and maybe consider submitting it to The Plant next issue… couldn’t hurt, right? -Sal Francis, Creative Writing Editor

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What's in a name?

Atticus Derouin Contributor

ativ

Atticus is not my name from birth. It is not my name on my birth certificate. My birth name comes from the fact that it is easy to say in 3 languages. It's a name I've carried in the palates Of teachers forcing me to turn my rolling r's into rough ones A name I've also carried In the palate of a grandmother refusing to break away from the land she had to leave. Atticus. People of Attica. Tribes and traditions, Indigenous to their Greek lands.

Atticus holds more than one complexity, though.

Alexandra Petropoulos Contributor

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Amor Fati

I suppose I picked this name a bit quickly, Between the lunch where I realized I wasn't cisgender And the end of the day where I knew I'd have to think of other things. A 4th period class Where, though tired, I wasn't as exhausted as I would be today. Analyzing a speech That, to me, Mimicked the peak of artistry: When experiences, However varied, Collide into layered simplicity, Something we all understand, Even if we've lived differently.

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Atticus carries a sort of weight, stemming from what my namesakes have always known: That the world will shun you, But you do what must be done.

With happiness and pen I write, Of glory days and glory nights, Where fires of Jerusalem, Are needed not to rid our spite.

Maybe that's why I went by Attie for a while: To lessen the weight of my own chosen name.

Instead the divine's in our soul, Banded ‘cross nations so we are, —Humanity, so bizarre, And yet we pay the toll.

Recently, though, Carrying this name, Has become a resolve instead of a burden. Its power grows exponentially with every demonstration of this resolve, Until our name becomes defined The way my namesakes and I want it to be.

At eighty years we cross the gate, That which He used to separate, The flaws in men that He create, From the holiness of His home.

And this effect ripples Until we have a societal dictionary full of definitions, One stored in our interpretations Instead of our bookshelves.

Like stone, He sits unperturbed. Condemning us for what He bestowed! Call ourselves sinners, guilted instilled, I ask, ‘Why does He feel He is owed?’ Need not death to reach the Heavens… Postmortem life, one can’t rely. But joy’s a starter we can leaven, —To love another before we die.

Culminating with: Name (def.) The mirror, Of who one wants to be.

iting Drifting with you Soliloquy Contributor I always wished I could fly. Not in the bird way though. I wished I could soar on the wind like a leaf that never fell, that twirled and twirled but never hit bottom, like a piece of sediment thrown up from an infinitely old story. I sometimes see you that way: Like a sediment from another time. You’ve got this look in your eyes when you stare off into the sky like you’re stuck mid-drift. It’s like one of those paintings where a character is cut out of the canvas and glued somewhere else; you look so out of place in a classroom. Like today. The teacher is talking about something or other but I can tell you’re somewhere else. I’m trying to follow you, but the wormhole is closed behind you so there’s nothing for me to do but guess. Maybe you’re in a flying castle floating over the lake you've told me so many stories about. Maybe you’re looking out the turret window letting your hair out to your brother, his smile still alive in that way you’ve almost forgotten. He’s throwing you his frisbee, and it's skipping along the water like the stones your aunt taught you to twist and flick, twist and flick. But he’s fading now and his body’s thinning out, his eyes aging in seconds. The frisbee’s gone now, turned into a paper bird, now unfolding showing forms after forms spiderwebbed in tiny black letters, they can’t reach you in your castle. Or maybe you’re not there. Maybe you’re in the high school parking lot, watching him climb into the back of the police car. Maybe you’re canoeing along the rivers in his cheeks, the texts on his phone, the moments you’d convinced yourself didn’t matter. They’re all rushing by, too fast, too fast, the paddle’s slipping, the current is pulling you towards the rocks. But I look over and your smile is still drifting, so I can guess that you haven’t drowned this time. I’ve spent years learning to be a life guard for you, I know when not to blow my whistle. So maybe you’re still dancing. Maybe you can still feel the vibrations of the music in your eardrums, in her hand clutched tight in yours. You never told me what it was she would whisper as she leans into the music but I’ve seen your lifelines enough times to paint it in, if only with watercolour. I picture her pouring sundrops and moonbeams into every step, your eye contact momentarily building walls from the storm you’ve grown so used to. I wish I could have been there then, maybe I could have been a mason so they would last a while. You look over at me then and I realize I’m the one in the current now. Like geese, you’ve broken the wind for me again so I could fly. But maybe I don’t need to soar if there’s something for me on the ground. I reach for your hand under the plastic desk scrawled over by a million other fleeting instants and come drifting down, landing on all the other leaves we’ve grown together. Maybe one day we’ll both be happy on solid earth.

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26  THE PLANT

Giving the CFL a chance in an NFL world MARISSA HODGSON SPORTS EDITOR When people talk about football, the NFL is often the first league that comes to mind. From the Super Bowl to some of the biggest names in sports, American football gets plenty of attention. But just north of the border, there is another league that deserves a spot in the conversation: the Canadian Football League. The CFL might not have the same international profile as the NFL, but that does not mean it has nothing to offer. For fans who have never watched a Canadian football game, or who only tune in for the Grey Cup, there are plenty of reasons to give the league a chance. For Montreal fans, that starts with the Alouettes. The Alouettes are part of Montreal’s sports identity, with a history that includes multiple Grey Cup championships and a dedicated fan base. Their 2023 championship was a reminder of what makes following a team special. There is something different about supporting a local team, celebrating a big win with other fans and watching a championship run unfold in your own city. And you do not have to be a lifelong football fan to enjoy that experience. One of the biggest differences between the CFL and NFL is the way the game is played. Canadian football uses three downs instead of four, along with a larger field and other rule differences. That changes the way teams approach each possession and can make the game feel different from the American version. For viewers who enjoy fast-paced action and unpredictable moments, Canadian football offers its own style of excitement. The CFL also gives fans a chance to connect with football closer to home. Watching the Alouettes at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium is different from following an American team through a television screen. The stadium’s setting on Mount Royal, the crowd, and

the shared experience of cheering for Montreal create an atmosphere that is difficult to recreate at home. There is also something appealing about having a team that represents your own city. The NFL has teams across the United States, but the Alouettes give Montrealers a local team to rally behind. Whether it is a rivalry game, a playoff matchup, or a regular-season afternoon, following the team creates opportunities to share experiences with other fans. Of course, the CFL faces an uphill battle when competing with the NFL for attention. American football benefits from major media coverage, recognizable stars and a massive online presence. For younger fans who spend time watching highlights and following athletes on social media, the NFL can be easier to discover and follow. But choosing to watch the CFL does not mean giving up the NFL. Fans can enjoy both leagues while appreciating what makes each one different. The CFL has its own traditions, rules and championship history, and those differences are worth exploring rather than treating the league as a lesser version of American football. For the Alouettes, attracting new fans means showing younger Montrealers that Canadian football can be exciting, accessible and worth following throughout the season. Social media, affordable game tickets and opportunities to experience games in person can all help introduce the team to people who might not otherwise pay attention.

Sometimes, becoming a fan starts with something as simple as watching one game. Learning the rules, finding a player to follow or going to a game with friends can make the sport feel less unfamiliar. Once people have a reason to care about a team, they may find themselves following the season more closely than they expected. as athletes, the choice to centre a Hollywood celebrity in a sports-betting advertisement invites a closer look at how women are presented to sports audiences. Rather than highlighting a female athlete’s achievements or connection to the game, the campaign relies on a celebrity whose public image is closely tied to her appearance and sexuality. Whether intentional or not, that choice raises questions about which qualities are being used to attract sports fans and what that suggests about the place of women in sports culture.

“The NFL may dominate much of the football conversation, but it does not have to be the only league worth watching.” The CFL offers a different version of the game, and the Alouettes give Montreal fans a chance to experience it close to home. Canadian football does not need to replace American football. It just deserves a chance of its own. VIA SPORTSNET

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Montreal Calendar : Upcoming Events in Arts & Culture THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH, 2026 UNDERPASS + INODI + ELM LA TOSCADURA 4388 Boul. Saint-Laurent 8:30 PM EST $10.00 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH, 2026 CLAY PIGEON & FRUIT SNACK DOUBLE ALBUM RELEASE LA SALA ROSSA 4848 Boul. Saint-Laurent 8:30 PM EST Free Entry SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15TH CINEMANIA: MARIE MADELEINE CINEMA MODERNE 5150 Boul. Saint-Laurent 2:00 PM EST $13.88

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH, 2026 SUNNIVA WITH KYLIE V & FROWNLINE (SOLO) P'TIT OURS 5589 Park Ave. 8:30 PM EST $12.00 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH, 2026 ROYAL MOUNTAIN PRESENTS: LE REN, BELLS LARSEN & JANKY BUNGAG CASA DEL POPOLO 4873 Boul. Saint-Laurent 10:30 PM EST $15.00 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5TH, 2026 BODYWASH “LAUGHING AT NOISE” ALBUM RELEASE WITH MARCEL AND MOTHER TONGUES LA SOTTERENEA 4848 Boul. Saint-Laurent 8:30 PM EST $20.00

THE PLANT WANTS 28  THE PLANT

YOU

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CURIOSITIES     29

Once you get to a certain age, the things you can do to entertain yourself diminish significantly. All that remains is the TV, board games, attempting (and failing) to use technology, cooking and the occasional family gathering. It becomes a rather boring existence. Human interaction is lacking, which only adds to the mental decline of age. It's a scary sight, seeing a once sharp mind become sluggish. Especially old folk, who are so full of wisdom. My grandmother (la nonna Maria) offers some of the best advice in the whole world. Better than ChatGPT, your friends, your parents, and probably your therapist too (if you have one). It would be such a shame for such wisdom to go to waste, like an unharvested pesto plant. So why not ask la nonna Maria for advice? You ask her questions, and she shares priceless wisdom, accumulated over 88 years. Feel free to ask any sort of question! It will all be anonymous and I will translate for both sides since she only speaks Italian. The questions and answers will then be published for all to see, perhaps helping someone else with a similar problem. She will surely consult with nonno Luigi (94 whole years old!!!) and the other old ladies in Pescara, so you're getting the best possible advice there is. You can send over any and all inquiries for nonna Maria at theplantnewspaper@gmail.com ! - Noe Di Profio Curiosities Editor

30  THE PLANT

Crossword

Untitled 1 2

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Across 4. Batman's stomping ground 5. Where the Titanic was made 7. Capital planet of the Galactic republic 9. Beatles' hometown 10. A big wall fell here 12. Rome's ancient enemy 14. Shakespeare called this the most romantic city 15. Old name of Istanbul 16. City under the sea 18. The Simpsons live in______ 19. Stranger things have occurred here...

Down 1. Ancient Persian capital 2. Which city do the Powerpuff Girls protect? 3. Village in the shire 6. New York was once New______ 8. Best city in North America 11. King Arthur's fabled castle 13. Seat of house Stark 14. The Holy See 17. Capital of West Germany

CURIOSITIES     31

Horoscopes ARIES (MAR 20 – APR 18) You will fail to accomplish a whole lot of things. That's not to say you shouldn't try, you'll learn just as much from your failures as you do from your successes. Be prepared not to have the most productive month though...

SAGITTARIUS (NOV 22 – DEC 21) We are all museums composed of art pieces and artifacts we call memories. It is high time you dust off some items and put them in the gallery whilst others are taken out of their exhibits. Take a long walk down memory lane.

TAURUS (APR 19 – MAY 20) Congratulations, you've made it out of a rough month! Hopefully it has showed you where the chinks in your armour are and you can then work on those. Not quite the time to grow lazy, not just yet. Good times ahead.

CAPRICORN (DEC 22 – JAN 19) Time to enjoy the good times. Go have fun, whatever form that may be for you. However, always keep an eye out for when you'll have to go back to focusing. If you're not careful, it'll hit like a truck and you might not recover.

GEMINI (MAY 21 – JUNE 20) You might think you're clever, but you need to think more before you speak. Might come as a bit of a shock, but take it as friendly advice and later on (although that may be a while), you'll be grateful for this.

AQUARIUS (JAN 20 – FEB 18) Try new foods. Oddly enough, the dinner table, cafeteria, and restaurants will be the locations of your epiphany. Assign extra care into what might otherwise be a banal meal, especially with your most distant family members and your closest friends.

CANCER (JUNE 21 – JULY 22) Now is the time to get out into the world. Make your presence known by expressing your opinions, — those that share said opinions will make themselves known. That will present a host of opportunities. LEO (JULY 23 – AUG 22) Could be the move to keep to yourself. Enjoy quiet nights and solitary mornings, for things shall reveal themselves to you if you do. To hear the universe, you must listen to it. VIRGO (AUG 23 – SEPT 22) You'll do things you don't enjoy doing. At least you'll be able to say you did them. I'm afraid it'll be a middling month, with reluctance as its main theme. LIBRA (SEPT 23 – OCT 22) A fact you have known will be explicitly revealed to you. You can either pretend you didn't know or confront them about it. Either way, it's a good thing, so enjoy it. Dress warmly, you're more susceptible to sickness at this moment. SCORPIO (OCT 23 – NOV 21) An unbelievably boring moment awaits you in the coming period. The likes of which you have never experienced. Prepare yourself to do absolutely nothing, it's all mental at the end of the day.

PISCES (FEB 19 – MAR 19) A change in the status quo will occur. Everything is always in flux, but now you shall reach a comforting normality. It is up to you whether or not you take it well. But know, this can only be a good thing.

32  THE PLANT

MASTHEAD CONTRIBUTORS Andrea Borbolla Fabila Alexandra Petropoulos Atticus Derouin

Chloe Bercovitz Editor-in-Chief

Marissa Hodgson Sports Editor

Orion Peyrol Editor-in-Chief

Noe Di Profio Curiosities Editor

Elsie Duque Hills Managing Editor

Sal Francis Creative Writing Editor

Martin Kaloshi Managing Editor

Simon Jaffary Osowski Visual Arts Editor

Valentina Lipmann Digital Managing Editor

Karina Awad-Battista Staff Writer

Ingrid Gantt Copy Editor

Lara Judah Staff Writer

Sabrina Coccimiglio Copy Editor

Leo Baron Staff Writer

Atika Ume Fazal News Editor Alaa Ettaouth Voices Editor Sibora Dibra Arts & Culture Editor Samantha Levine Arts & Culture Correspondent

Marie Jade St-Georges Social Media Manager Rebecca Lees Graphic Designer Alexander Solovyev Cover Artist Angela Cortez Secretary

Charlie Reuter Science & Environment Editor

theplantnews.com theplantnewspaper@gmail.com @theplantdawson

The Plant Newspaper Dawson College 3040 Rue Sherbrooke O Montréal, QC H3Z 1A4 2C.12